OTTAWA — Canada’s crime rate has plunged by 17%, compared to a decade ago, according to Statistics Canada.

In terms of homicides across Canada, there was a 4% drop last year when compared to 2017 and a year over year comparison showed firearm-related offences also went down — by 8% — in 2018.

While Canada’s crime rate peaked in 1991, it dropped steadily — by more than 50% until 2014. Since then, there has been an 8% increase largely due to non-violent crimes.

In 2018, police forces reported 2 million incidents — 5,488 incidents per 100,000 people — in 2018, a 2% increase from the previous year.

The decline in homicides was region-specific, with big decreases in Alberta and British Columbia, but Ontario homicides increased substantially. Statistics Canada stated that increase was led by Toronto, which experienced its highest crime rate since 1991.

The increase in the severity of crime from 2017 to 2018 was driven largely by higher rates of fraud, shoplifting and other thefts, the agency said.

A class of sexual assault, incidents that did not involve weapons or evidence of bodily harm, was also up significantly, with an increase of 15%. The increase was broad-based, with every province and territory except the Northwest Territories reporting higher rates.

The crime-rate numbers published by Statistics Canada are based on data from Canadian police forces, so they do not include crimes that weren’t reported to police.

In an article accompanying the statistics, a Statistics Canada analyst said the rate of sexual assault reported is “likely an underestimation of the true extent of sexual assault in Canada.”

Sexual assault, along with a 44% increase in extortion, were the main factors behind an uptick in the level of violent crime of 1%.

And Indigenous people continue to disproportionately be the victims of homicide. Though they make up 5% of Canada’s population, they were 22% of homicide victims.

Statistics Canada also noted a decrease in hate crimes in Canada, down 13% after they spiked in 2017. That year there was a 47% increase in the number of hate crimes reported by police, with large increases in Ontario and Quebec.

Last year, hate crimes against Muslims fell by half, and there were also fewer hate crimes against black people and fewer crimes focused on sexual orientation. The share of hate crimes targeting Jews also fell.

Statistics Canada noted the rate of hate crimes continues to be higher than any other year since 2009.

– With files from The Canadian Press

HIGHLIGHTS

– Overall crime rates remain 17% lower compared to a decade ago

– Homicides across Canada decreased 4%

– There’s an 8% decrease in firearm-related homicide across the country, the first decrease since 2013/14

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